Bookmaker Gary Wiltshire recalls the day the bottom fell out of his world after he lost everything in a few moments of crazed gambling at Ascot

O
n September 28, 1996, Tottenham Hotspur travelled to Manchester United
without Darren Anderton, unable to play because of a thigh injury. Gary
Wiltshire’s day began in a similarly unsurprising way. He eased his
considerable frame into his Mercedes E320 at his home near Milton Keynes and
headed to Worcester races. It was a Saturday, the busiest day of the week
for a bookmaker.

To the guy serving him diesel at a service station that morning, the good
humour would have been obvious. He was making money at the game he loved.
Nobody mistook him for a millionaire but he lived in a nice house, drove a
smart car and owned a cottage in Norfolk and a small villa on the Algarve.

He was born in Islington, north London, where his parents had a small shop,
and he grew up hustling at Leather Lane Market in Holborn. Along the way he